The New York Times has suspended one of its Pulitzer Prize-winning writers after doubts were raised about his reporting.

The suspension of Rick Bragg, who won a Pulitzer for feature writing in 1996, comes two weeks after another Times journalist, Jayson Blair, resigned following revelations that he concocted details in dozens of stories written over four years. The paper is believed to be investigating the work of other reporters whose work has also been called into question.

Bragg was suspended from the Times on Friday after a reader raised questions over a story about a small, oyster-farming town in Florida in June 2002.

Bragg's byline appeared above the story, but it seems that another journalist, J. Wes Yoder, conducted all the interviews and gathered most of the facts.

In an interview with the on-line magazine, Slate, Yoder said he worked for Bragg for several years for no pay, although Bragg "covered his rent . . . and hotel, gas and meal expenses whenever Yoder worked on a story that required him to travel". ");document.write("

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Slate reports that Yoder "stayed in the Apalachicola area four nights in order to report the piece and that he interviewed all of the oystermen in the story. Bragg visited briefly one night and interviewed none of them".

Bragg has told the Columbia Journalism Review that while Yoder was in Apalachicola, he was an hour away, in the resort town of Fort Walton Beach, doing "additional reporting".

"To justify the dateline for the story, Bragg drove into Apalachicola for a couple of hours, returned to his hotel in Fort Walton, and went over story notes with Yoder," says the Review.

"Two days later, they both returned to New Orleans, where Bragg lives, and where he typed up the story."

The Review quoted Bragg: "I wouldn't have done anything different. J. Wes did great work and we came out with a great story."

It also quotes Yoder as saying he never expected to get a byline for the Apalachicola story. "This is what stringers do, the legwork. I did most of the reporting and Rick wrote it. Nothing's inaccurate. Rick tried to bring the piece alive."

Slate has also published several errors by Bragg, which have been corrected by the Times, and notes that Bragg is a friend of the Times executive editor, Howell Raines. Raines was also criticised for supporting and promoting Jayson Blair.

In the two weeks since the scandal over Blair was uncovered, the Times has assembled a committee to investigate its newsroom practices, and readers have been invited to email details of stories that warrant investigation.